What did John mean by “no more death and tears”?

If we bother to read the the book of Revelation in the light of the Old Testament, we would NOT be intoxicated with a dark impeding future of a doomsday antichrist.

Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Isaiah 25:8
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

You will see that John was quoting Isaiah.

Now look at the context.

Isaiah 25:6-7
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
And he will swallow up on this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

the veil that is spread over all nations.

This mountain is the New Jerusalem. It came about after the Old Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70.

The Old Jerusalem was where the Law was practiced. It is also know as Sinai.

Galatians 4:25
Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

Now look at this.

2 Corinthians 3:14
But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Notice Paul tells us the veil spoken in Isaiah is the Old Covenant.

What John is trying to tell you therefore is that it when the Temple and preAD70 Jerusalem were destroyed, the ministry of death being the Law and the continual tearful need of repentance were done away with.

2 Corinthians 3:7
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,

It has nothing to do with us living immortalised. That is not happening in the future. It happened in AD70.

It is time we come to a realisation that death and tears are our past. We are now living a resurrected life.

Simon Yap
hischarisisenough.wordpress.com